London’s most senior policeman has pledged to treat rape and sex offenses with the highest priority after a damning report into the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) revealed widespread failures.

The investigation,
titled “Report of the Independent Review into The
Investigation and Prosecution of Rape in London,” was
carried out by lawyer Dame Elish Angiolini QC, who previously
served as Lord Advocate of Scotland.

It found that while there had been an increase in the reporting
of incidents, the resulting workload meant resources were
stretched.

Questions were also raised about police and prosecutors’ ability
to manage the issue.

The report noted “high levels of anxiety were observed in
both organizations, which, unless additional resources are
forthcoming, can only become worse as staff struggle to meet
increasing crime reporting.”

Angiolini told the Daily Mail: “Some of the recommendations
will require a willingness to undertake radical change in the
approach to these cases.”

She argued that while recent governments had championed the cause
of encouraging victims to report sexual violence, there was still
work to be done.

“There is an urgent need to ensure that the system is not
overwhelmed because of a failure to fund the positive outcome of
that policy,” she said.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe gave his
views on the report, which he said “shines an honest
light” on the issue, when it was launched at New Scotland
Yard on Tuesday.

“We have to give the same priority to sex offense
investigations as we do to counter-terrorism,” he said.

“What we intend to do in three areas is give the highest
priority to the new demands we are facing in the future – the
first is around counter-terrorism, the second is around
cybercrime, and the third is this area, sexual offense
reporting.”

The Met has been dogged with scandals pertaining to its handling
of sexual violence cases in recent years including a failure by
police to record rapes as crimes in several areas of London.